Khaki Town

Set in Townsville (Far North Queensland) in 1942 Judy Nunn has written a novel about the effect of the town tripling its population when American and Australian soldiers arrived to fight the Japanese who were considered a threat to the region.

Racism is a major theme of the book, not just the affects of having black American soldiers in a country where the White Australia policy still existed but the tension that existed in the American ranks between white and black soldiers, especially white soldiers used to segregation back home.

The story focuses on the 96th Battalion of US Corps Engineers - coloured soldiers who are considered unsuitable as fighting men but useful to build airstrips and other construction projects. Company C is the focus of this novel with two contrasting white leaders - one sympathetic to discrimination received by the men while the other can only be described as a bigoted bully. When the men from C Company are forbidden to go to the town to socialise it soon becomes obvious that trouble is brewing. A young journalist who is also aware that all is not well among the American forces is determined to uncover as much of the story as he can, even though he is aware that the truth may never  be revealed.

Many of the Australians, particularly the military, are not happy having the American soldiers swanning into town monopolising the local girls. The novel also describes the relationships of some of the Townsville residents with the newcomers in their community.

This book provides a different aspect of war by focusing on the tensions caused when various military forces have to coexist during the Second World War.